Thursday, July 21, 2005

MCDU Project MARC Records Dataset: Decomposition Specification, Database Design, and Parser SoftwareThis document provides information about the MARC dataset, the specifications for decomposing the MARC record, the design of the database to hold the decomposed records, and the parsing software that was designed to decompose the records and load the data to the database.

Validation Procedures for MARC Record Parsing SoftwareThis document describes the procedures for testing the parsing scripts used to decompose the MARC records. A sample of the raw MARC records from the dataset and the resulting parsed records are subjected to the validation procedures detailed below to verify the integrity of the software and ascertain that the data from the MARC records are correctly represented prior to loading into the database.

In 1982, the Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO) issued Library of Congress Rule Interpretation (LCRI) 1.0G, Accents and Other Diacritical Marks, that prohibits the use of accent marks on initial capital letters of words in manifestations published after 1801 in French, Spanish and Portuguese. In 1989 this LCRI was reissued to cover name headings explicitly. This policy aligned with the practices of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC); however, since that time LAC has changed its practice with regard to French language manifestations and headings and has now asked the Library of Congress to conform with that change. Since it has become commonplace for Spanish and Portuguese publications to include the accent marks on capital letters in words and names in these languages, CPSO is proposing to cancel this LCRI and allow catalogers to apply AACR2 1.0G and 22.1D to add these diacritics when they are not present based on catalogers' knowledge of the language.

Comments on this proposal may be sent to the Cataloging Policy and Support Office by email at cpso@loc.gov. The deadline for comments is August 12, 2005.

Problems users are having searching for known works in current OPACs are summarized, and it is suggested that a better understanding of AACR2R/MARC 21 authority, bibliographic, and holdings records would allow us to FRBR-ize our current OPACs using existing records. The presence of work and expression identifiers in bibliographic and authority records is analyzed. Recommendations are made concerning better indexing and display of works and expression/manifestations. Questions are raised about the appropriateness for the creation of true catalogs of client-server technology which delivers records over the Internet.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Adobe has a the ability to attach metadata to the related file. Is this useful in resource discovery or is it limited to more administrative tasks? Anyone using the Adobe metadata? If it makes our image files visible to search engines or even our own Web site index I may start adding it. However, if it is limited to administrative functions, I have plenty of other tasks on my desk.

There is a new e-mail discussion list, UNICODE-MARC. There don't seem to be any posts yet.

The Library of Congress has set up a special listserv for the MARC 21 user community to discuss and arrive at consensus on various issues concerning the implementation of Unicode with MARC 21. While the Unicode character set was approved for use with MARC 21 in 1994, it has taken until now for enough implementations to be in place to effect the exchange environment. Existing Unicode implementations have been working by using only the 16,000+ characters from MARC-8 with Unicode encodings within systems, then converting to MARC-8 for exchange.

Some of the issues have been posed in the two reports on using Unicode with MARC 21 that have been posted on the MARC 21 web site and discussed at MARBI meetings and other forums: Assessment of Options for Handling Full Unicode Character Encodings in MARC 21, Part 1, and Part 2. However, it will be useful if more technical staff from the various systems that process MARC records, and who do not usually attend format meetings, could enter into the discussion, hence this listserv.

Monday, July 18, 2005

This weekend I was made aware of another aspect of the library in the community, as a shelter. I was to meet my cousin, a librarian, in the Rio Grande Valley, but we could not get together because he was working to get his library building ready to serve as a shelter during Hurricane Emily. I'd guess quite a few of our buildings serve such a chore during emergencies. Where else can you get such a return on investment?